Valentine lived in the third century in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius. An emperor unloved, authoritarian and aggressive.

At this time, the soldiers were tired of going to war, leaving their wives and families. So Claude, rather than give up on war, made a law that forbade marriages until further notice.

Everybody thought this law was crule, including Valentine, one of his ministers. He decided not to comply and went on marrying people.
The inevitable happened, he was arrested one night, thrown into prison and sentenced to death.

Many young people came to visit Valentine, including his guard's daughter. The day of his death, February 14, Valentine wrote a letter to her signed "with love from your Valentine."

Since then, we celebrate Valentine's Day on February 14 and exchange tender words that day.

Cupid and Psyche

We see little cupids everywhere for Valentine. Cupid (Eros in Greek) is the god of love, the son of Venus, goddess of beauty. He is represented as a kind of mischievous angel that pierces hearts with his arrows.

Venus was jealous of the beauty of a mortal, Psyche. She sent her son Cupid to avenge herself. But Cupid fell in love with Psyche and married her.. As she was a mortal and he a God, he forbade her to look at him and they met in the dark.

One night, Psyche badly advised by one of his sisters had told her that her husband would be horrible, looked Cupid. She was so disturbed by his charm that she let some of her candle drip on hima and he woke up. Cross at her lack of trust he left.

Psyche went on the road in search of Cupid. She begged the gods for help but they pretend not to hear, fearing Venus's wrath. Psyche then decided to go directly to Venus. Venus gave her a series of trials more and more difficult. Each time, Psyche succeeded. So Venus sent Psyche with a small box in the underworld to bring some of the beauty of Proserpine, the wife of the god of the dead in the box.

On the way back, Psyche could not resist curiosity and opened the box. She did not find the beauty but a deadly sleep. Venus had conspired with Proserpine.

Cupid found her lifeless on the ground and as he had forgiven her, he delivered her from the sleep that he put in the box. The gods moved by the strength of Psyche's love made ​​her a goddess to allow her to live a normal life with her husband.